It’s true that not all people tell the truth, so it’s unlikely that everything you read on the web is going to be that grain of sand that’s going to be a pearl that you require. To counter that, especially when in connection with something as ethereal as word of mouth information, listed here are a number of statistic’s and sources that you (if you so desire) can check for accuracy at your leisure.

1. Family and friend recommendations beat out all others when influencing decisions when giving out word of mouth information (AdAge).

2. Visitors to a site that post commentary will typically visit a site nine times, and are twice as likely to purchase from that site than others (McKinsey and Co./Jupiter Media Metrix).

3. Consumers trust friends more than experts or celebrity endorsements (65%, 27% and 8%, respectively; Yankelovich).

4. A Nielsen worldwide study of some 26,000 users in over 40 markets reported that consumer recommendations were the most credible form of word of mouth information advertising within the 70% plus of respondents.

5. Over 116 million user generated comments were made in the U.S. alone in 2008, with an additional 82 million content creators. With the extended reach and influence of Web 2.0 and social networking, these figures are set to climb (eMarketer).

6. Social network users are three times more likely to purchase a product on the strength of recommendation from a peer rather than any form of advertising. (Jupiter Research).

7. 86% of people asked said they would trust a friend’s recommendation over an experts, with 83% saying they would trust user generated comments over a critic’s (Marketing Sherpa).

8. 66% of social networkers are more inclined to purchase because of a recommendation, as opposed to 52% that aren’t social networkers (Royal Mail home shipping tracker).

9. 81% of holiday shoppers read user generated reviews before purchasing (Nielsen Online).

10. 86% of consumers read reviews on businesses before making a purchase, with over 90% saying that they trust those reviews (Kudzu.com).

11. 49% of shoppers reviewed stated that they have made purchases on the strength of reviews. Of these 60.53% decided on the strength of user reviews; 20.48% due to comparison charts; 15.41% due to editorial reviews and comments; 3.58% due to shared shopping lists.

12. Almost two thirds (62%) of home consumers read on line user generated product reviews before purchasing (Deloitte and Touche) with the same percentage stating that they would consult sites with user reviews in order to make entertainment purchases (Marketing Sherpa).

13. 7 out of 10 people who read consumer generated reviews are more likely to share those opinions, which amplifies the impact they have (Deloitte and Touche).

14. 74% of those surveyed state they base purchasing solely on user generated reviews of their customer service experiences for a product or company (Society of New Communication Research).

As you can see, word of mouth information coming from trusted sources such as friends, consumers, etc. is the most powerful form of advertising.

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Filed under: Marketing and Advertising

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